BOOK LAB – ONLINE!

ANMT’s sixth annual MUSICAL THEATRE BOOT CAMP presents:

BOOK LAB - ONLINE!

Instructor: Elise Dewsberry

Make your own schedule!

THIS COURSE IS OFFERED COMPLETELY ONLINE

Course Fee: $495 (Early Bird/ANMT Member Fee: $495)

The Book Lab is designed as an introduction to writing the book of a musical while also outlining the collaborative steps involved in creating a new musical with the whole team. The book of a musical is not just the spoken words, but encompasses the entire story of the musical. The Bookwriter is officially responsible for the writing of the book, but the entire writing team needs to collaborate on the story.

The collaborative process is explored through six units including: THE IDEA, THE OUTLINE, THE ROUGH DRAFT, ADDING SONGS, REVISIONS, and FINISHING TOUCHES. Along the way, other topics are incorporated including:

Unwavering Want
Action Loops
Conflict
Adaptation
Language of an outline
Story structure
Creating a Character Worksheet
Exposition
Character Diction
Dialogue
Song Spotting
Incorporating Songs
Dealing with Feedback
Collaboration Agreements
Project Pitches
Public Domain

This course qualifies as the Book Lab element of the Academy for New Musical Theatre’s Core Curriculum.

To register (or for more info) - CLICK HERE

INSTRUCTOR INFO:
Elise Dewsberry
Currently the Artistic Director of ANMT, Elise has been involved in the development of new works for over fifteen years: as an actor/singer, as a director, as a dramaturge, and as a writer. At ANMT, Elise co-teaches the Core Curriculum, runs the Full Length Curriculum and Book Lab, and is the dramaturge for the annual Search for New Musicals. Elise is also on the New Works Committee of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and is the co-ordinator of the SoCal New Musicals Network. While living in Toronto, Elise served as the Assistant Artistic Director of the Muskoka Festival; the Co-Ordinator of the festival’s annual Musical Theatre Writer’s Colony, the Associate Dramaturge of the Canadian Stage Company; the Resident Dramaturge of the Smile Theatre Company; and was the co-founder of Toronto’s ScriptLab. Elise spent many years touring Canada with NINE MONTHS - a one-woman musical which she commissioned from writers Carl Ritchie and Stephen Woodjetts. Elise and Carl also co-wrote ANY BODY HOME?, which has been published by Dramatic Publishing and has had multiple productions around the world.

‘I recently had the pleasure of working with The Academy for New Musical Theatre on a reading of THE GROUCH’S DAUGHTER, my new musical co-written with Jack Helbig. ANMT staff member Elise Dewsberry served as both dramaturg and director, and in our years of working on this show, no one person has been as helpful to us as she was. Prior to the reading, we received a set of notes that were as thoughtful as they were thorough. ANMT’s suggestions led to a rewrite that greatly helped me shape the show and refine its style. I’m deeply impressed with the care and intelligence of their creative input, and would not hesitate to work with ANMT again.’
-Mark Hollmann, Tony award-winning composer, Urinetown

‘We …feel as if a nurturing dramaturgical Mary Poppins has visited us with wonderful insightful nourishment. It appeared to us that you seemed to really relate to the characters we’ve established and are caught up with their plight and have come up with ways to strengthen them … Your suggestions are invaluable to us …’
–Ron Yatter

‘Elise Dewsberry’s rare gift for analyzing plot and character is enormously helpful to writers. Her story sense is phenomenal.’
- Stephen Oles, bookwriter, Seattle

‘Wow!! … It’s as though you were reading our minds … What’s particularly brilliant is that you are having us work through the process in manageable stages. What a gift you have, that you can lead us so that we need to climb out of only puddles of quicksand of our own making, rather than oceans of it! We both hold you in the absolute highest esteem imaginable.’
- Roger Love and Ann McNamee